The Iliad (Roman Roads Classics)

This prose rendering by Wesley Callihan of Homer’s great epic is based on the 1883 translation of Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf, and Ernest Myers. Although accurate, the storytelling of the older translation is obscured, sometimes to the point of incomprehension, by the archaic Elizabethan and Sir Thomas Mallory diction and style. This new rendering attempts to preserve the accuracy but make the story far more readable. The text has been revised into contemporary American English while preserving much of the syntactical structure and style. The reading is plain and direct, but still noble; you will find no attempt at casual, much less slangy, diction. This version of the Iliad is more than just a revision—it is a new version based on that older one.Includes maps, and extensive prefatory material, in addition to all 24 books of Homer's Iliad. The Importance of the IliadThe Historical Christian PerspectiveThe Historical Background of the StoryThe Story of the Trojan WarBetween the Iliad and the OdysseyThe Form and Context of Homeric EpicThe Contents and Structure of the Iliad Major Characters in the Iliad How to Read the Iliad What to Read NextThis Version—and Why Another One?Maps of the Iliad “One of the many explanations, perhaps the central explanation, is that Homer was a master storyteller. Great stories, it goes without saying are meant not to be read, so much as they are to be heard. We “Greeked” readers says that the theme of both Homeric epics is the kleos of famous men. Our various translations of kleos get close to its general sense: “glory,” “reputation,” “magnificence,” and so on. What they do not capture, however, is that kleos comes from the verb kluō, which means “to hear.” The deeds of Achilles and Odysseus are what people hear about them, and they hear about them in stories. Vergil, it is said, taught us to read, but Homer taught us to listen. But no one will listen if the storyteller is botching his lines. Only a great storyteller can tell a great story in the right way, even if it is written down.What Wes brings to his adaption of this old translation of the Iliad is the storyteller’s innumerable skills and intuitions about choosing just the right word, establishing an engaging cadence, rounding off phrases, slowing the pace when it needs to be slow and accelerating it when it needs to be accelerated, enriching the words with drama without overdoing it.”– Dr. Dale Grote, from the Foreword Read more